Dan Kennedy's blog on media and politics • published by the Boston Phoenix from 2002 to 2005

Thursday, September 04, 2003

Globe reporter suspended
for pro-union action.(Note: This item has been
corrected.)Boston Globe business reporter Jeffrey Krasner has been
suspended for a week without pay because he displayed a pro-union
sign that showed up in the background of a broadcast by New England
Cable News, a content partner with the Globe.

I report some of the details about
this incident in the print edition of this week's Phoenix. The
story is online here.
However, the punishment was handed down after the Phoenix had
gone to press. Other details have emerged since that story was
written as well.

Sometime on Friday, August 22,
Krasner -- who worked at the Boston Herald and the now-defunct
New England edition of the Wall Street Journal before moving
to the Globe a few years ago -- placed a sign he had made
protesting bogged-down contract negotiations on a part of his desk
that could be seen in the background of the newsroom television
studio.

The sign -- which reportedly said
OUR WORKPLACE, UNRAVELING
DAILY (a spoof on the
Globe's ad campaign, YOUR
WORLD, UNFOLDING DAILY) -- was
picked up in an NECN segment that was airing from the Globe
newsroom.

Krasner declined to comment, as did
editor Martin Baron when I reached him Wednesday morning, before
Krasner's suspension had been announced. Globe spokesman
BMaynard Scarborough, in a statement released after the suspension,
said, "The Globe respects employees' right to express an
opinion, or to show support for their union. There are many ways to
show such support. In instances where an employee interferes with the
content of the newspaper or with a partner organization's broadcast
or operation, the Globe considers this to be impermissible
conduct and subject to disciplinary action."

Scarborough told me that the
company would not comment on what punishment Krasner had received.
But Steve Richards, president of the Boston Newspaper Guild, which
represents some 1200 Globe employees, confirmed the one-week
suspension late Wednesday afternoon. In an earlier conversation, he
described Krasner's actions as the logical outcome of a 32-month
impasse over issues such as management proposals to subcontract
non-editorial jobs and to eliminate seniority as a consideration in
layoffs.

"I think the incident is indicative
of the tension, anger, and frustration that is being experienced
throughout the building," said Richards. "It's not the most pleasant
atmosphere in the building right now, and I think this incident
stemmed from that." In recent weeks, the Guild has resorted to such
tactics as buying a billboard advertisement on the Southeast
Expressway, outside the Globe plant, and picketing at Fenway
Park.

Later on Wednesday, Richards denied
that the Guild was behind an effort to keep Globe staff
members off NECN's airwaves, even though staffers received a notice
in their mailboxes on Tuesday afternoon that appeared to have the
union seal of approval. The notice, titled "Stay Off NECN," read as
follows, according to a source:

Because of Globe
management's discipline of a colleague, members of the
Globe staff are being asked NOT to appear on any New
England Cable News programs for the next week (and possibly
longer) effective Wednesday, Sept. 3. If you have any questions
about this, please contact the Newspaper Guild ...

"That was issued not from this
office, despite the appearance that it was," Richards told me, adding
that he and other union officials were actually engaged in contract
negotiations at the time that the notice popped up. He said he told
the perpetrators, whom he did not identify, "Please don't do it in
the future."

Like Krasner's sign-holding
incident, Richards described the call for a boycott of NECN as a sign
of just how tense contract talks have become. "Jeff is a great guy
and everybody likes him," Richards said. "But this goes deeper than
standing up for your friend."

The bystander in all this was NECN,
whose airwaves ended up getting used as part of the Globe's
contract battle.

Charles Kravetz, NECN's
vice-president of news and station manager, said, "I've been assured
by the folks at the Globe that they're handling this matter,
and that there won't be any similar incidents in the future. And I'm
very comfortable that they're dealing with this as an internal issue,
and that they're handling it in a way that will be comfortable for us
and for them."

Stay of execution. A federal
appeals court, bless the judges' hearts, has at least temporarily
halted the FCC's attempt to deregulate corporate media. At least for
now, one company will not be allowed to own a daily newspaper and a
TV or radio station in the same city, and networks will not be
allowed to gobble up even more local television stations.

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About Media Log Archives

The Boston Phoenix's Media Log was launched in 2002 by the paper's then-media columnist, Dan Kennedy, who continued it until he left the paper in 2005. The Phoenix's current media columnist, Adam Reilly, is now the author of Media Log, which has since been renamed Don't Quote Me. Kennedy, an assistant professor of journalism at Northeastern University, blogs at Media Nation.